At age 18, Bonzie takes off the kid gloves

Pop singer isn't wasting time or mincing words

September 19, 2013|By Jessica Hopper, Special to the Tribune

(Xi Sinsong, HANDOUT)

Listening to her latest songs, you would never guess that Nina Ferraro, who records and performs as Bonzie, is all of 18 years old. The Chicago transplant has been hard at it for a few years but just issued her debut, "Rift Into the Secret of Things," in the summer. As a singer-songwriter, she's in possession of a powerful voice, and her lyrics are confessional and visceral. She's clearly comfortable singing about what's on her mind, choosing not to veil her work. Even though she's just released an album, she is already hard at work on a new one, produced by legendary underground rock engineer Steve Albini. Ferraro spoke to the Tribune last week from her home in Chicago. Here is an edited transcript of that conversation.

Q: What was the first song you remember being obsessed with?

A: I liked a lot of songs. I don't recall being fixated on one. I liked pop music when I was very young. The confidence in pop music was exciting. At that point I wasn't writing music yet, but I liked to navigate songs in my head, and pop songs have a certain simplistic beauty to them. I always loved classical music, so I would rotate between the two, and then I got ahold of my older brother's friend's mix tapes and started listening to those, which was a lot of indie rock and alternative.

Q: Jazz, Coltrane especially, has been formative for you as well.

A: I've always been into jazz. (John Coltrane's) "Interstellar Space" is such a wild record. It's very guttural. The musicians in my band are mostly jazz guys, so over the years I've started to really appreciate it. There are a lot of "jazz instincts" that I've come to appreciate from playing with them. Jazz is so much about the relationship between the sounds being made, and the mood that's being created is very anti-aesthetic, in the best way.

Q: Can you talk about what your earliest experiences were performing in the city — you were still very much a kid.

A: I found cafes around the city that would agree to let me come in and play. I preferred that atmosphere. Open mics have always rubbed me the wrong way. I still do unannounced, therapeutic sets at places around the city when I have time.

Q: Do you think being young works to your advantage because maybe people are not expecting power or original music from you — and so you can blow them away a little? What are the advantages of getting started so young?

A: I don't think there's much of an advantage. I started doing this at the age that I did because I wanted to and I had the ability to. If anything, it's been kind of a pain — playing at venues, Subterranean or whatever, and getting the X's on your hands so they know I'm underage and being "watched." Younger people aren't really encouraged to be a part of society, it's just not set up that way. I started making music for the sake of it, I just happened to be 15.

Q: What's the guiding principle of what you are doing?

A: I have a feeling that starting so young has kind of "philosoph-ied" the whole thing, and I think that's good. I started because I loved it, and I keep pursuing because I love it. It's something about the transcendence of the thing itself. Art, I suppose. It feels like it should always change and always evolve. To halt that would seem almost impossible.

Q: Is music your full-time pursuit right now?

A: Yeah, music is full time, although I'm still studying. I've been recording with Jeff Parker and Dan Bitney of Tortoise with Steve Albini this past month in the city. Jeff and Dan are so in tune with what we're going for, as is Steve. Steve's been amazing. Chicago is lucky to have him.